"The chaparral cock, who sat on the horn of the deer, and the crow who
sat on its backbone."
The others called out, "We are not surprised they were killed. That is
what we tell you all the time. If you go after dead deer you must expect
to be killed."
"We will not think of them longer," so the two crows replied. "They are
dead and gone. We are talking of things of long ago."
But the youth sat quietly below and listened to everything that was
said.
After a while the crows on the other side of the canon made a great
noise and began to dance. They had many songs at that time. The youth
listened all the time. After the dance a great fire was made and he
could see black objects moving, but he could not distinguish any people.
He recognized the voice of Hasjelti. He remembered everything in his
heart. He even remembered the words of the songs that continued all
night. He remembered every word of every song. He said to himself, "I
will listen until daylight."
The Crow People did not remain on the side of the canon where the fires
were first built. They crossed and recrossed the canon in their dance.
They danced back and forth until daylight. Then all the crows and the
other birds flew away to the west. All that was left was the fires and
the smoke.
Then the youth started for his brothers' camp. They saw him coming. They
said, "He will have lots of stories to tell. He will say he saw
something no one ever saw."
But the brother-in-law who was with them said, "Let him alone. When he
comes into camp he will tell us all. I believe these things do happen
for he could not make up these things all the time."
Now the camp was surrounded by pinon brush and a large fire was burning
in the centre. There was much meat roasting over the fire. When the
youth reached the camp, he raked over the coals and said. "I feel cold."
Brother-in-law replied, "It is cold. When people camp together, they
tell stories to one another in the morning. We have told ours, now you
tell yours."
The youth said, "Where I stopped last night was the worst camp I ever
had." The brothers paid no attention but the brother-in-law listened.
The youth said, "I never heard such a noise." Then he told his story.
Brother-in-law asked what kind of people made the noise.
The youth said, "I do not know. They were strange people to me, but they
danced all night back and forth across the canon and I heard them say my
brothers killed twelve deer and afterwards killed two of their people
who went for the blood of the deer. I heard them say, 'That is what
must be expected. If you go to such places, you must expect to be
killed.'"
The elder brother began thinking. He said, "How many deer did you say
were killed?"
"Twelve."
Elder brother said, "I never believed you before, but this story I do
believe. How do you find out all these things? What is the matter with
you that you know them?"